FPIF Advisory Committee Member*

Coletta Youngers

Senior Associate of the Washington Office on Latin America
contact via email

Coletta Youngers, a Senior Associate with the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), is an analyst of human rights and political developments in the Andes and of U.S. foreign policy toward the Andean region. She is also the Project Director of WOLA's "Drugs, Democracy and Human Rights" project, a major research and advocacy effort. Youngers travels regularly to the Andean region, is frequently interviewed by Latin America and U.S. media, and writes and speaks widely on these issues and U.S. international drug control policy. She is currently completing a book to be published by the Instituto de Estudios Politicos in Lima, Peru on the history of the human rights movement in that country.

As a former Project Manager in the Peru-Chile office of Catholic Relief Services, Ms. Youngers monitored and evaluated rural and urban development and human rights projects by Peruvian NGOs. She has also worked with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (Western Hemisphere Division) and the editorial staff of Latinamerica Press/Noticias Aliadas in Lima, Peru. She is a graduate of the University of the South and holds a Masters in Public Affairs from the Woodrow Wilson School at Princeton University.

WOLA is a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote United States and multilateral policies toward Latin America that advance human rights, democratic institutions, citizen participation, and equitable economic development.

Youngers has just produced a new Brief:

"Collateral Damage: U.S. Drug Control in the Andes." It is part of a WOLA briefing series called the Drug War Monitor.

WOLA has just released a new Special Report:

Peru’s Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos: A Case Study of Coalition Building
by Coletta A. Youngers and Susan C. Peacock (November 2002)
Organized in two sections, this case study examines the Coordinadora's impressive track record. The first section summarizes the history of the human rights movement in Peru with a particular focus on major accomplishments and challenges over the first fifteen years (1985-2000) of the Coordinadora's existence. The second section highlights the lessons learned from the Coordinadora's coalition-building efforts and lists characteristics that contribute to its effectiveness.
This case study is available in both English and Spanish. Hard copies of this 40-page report can be purchased for $5 from WOLA.

Commentaries and Other Pieces
Authored by This Member

Peru’s Coordinadora Nacional de Derechos Humanos: A Case Study of Coalition Building
by Coletta A. Youngers and Susan C. Peacock (November 2002)

Venezuela Crisis: A Joint Statement by the Washington Office on Latin America and Human Rights Watch
(October 9, 2002)

Bush’s Foreign Policy in Latin America: Colombia and U.S. Drug Policy
Coletta Youngers (Jan 2001)

Other Pieces by Coletta Youngers on FPIF's website:

Peru: Democracy & Dictatorship
Coletta A. Youngers (Oct 2000)

Into the Quagmire: Colombia and the War on Drugs
Coletta Youngers (May 2000)

* Note from the FPIF Editor: Although the Advisory Committee shares FPIF's broad principles of internationalism, human rights, anti-militarism, and sustainable development, FPIF doesn't expect all members necessarily to agree with or endorse all the policy prescriptions that we publish.